Safety device for directing traffic

ABSTRACT

A traffic barricade-type structure constructed entirely of polymeric material such as high impact styrene and vinyl and including a pair of spaced A-shaped elongated strip supports with a pair of generally horizontal spaced elongated strips disposed on each side of the A-shaped supports. These supports are hinged at the apex thereof by resilient straps and the spacing between the legs of the supports is limited by transversely disposed resilient straps which may be temporarily uncoupled to allow the supports to be reversed to expose different safety indicia.

United States Patent Huntington [54] SAFETY DEVICE FOR DIRECTING TRAFFIC [72] Inventor: Jack F. Huntington, 213 Avenue B,

Redondo Beach, Calif. 90277 [22] Filed: June 8, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 44,209

[52] US. Cl. ..340/119, 240/2 B, 248/166, 248/465, 40/125 N, 40/ 125 H [51] Int. Cl. ..E0li 9/01 [58] Field of Search ..340/l14, 117, 119; 240/2 B; 248/166, 434, 439-, 441, 447, 454, 466, 462, 465; 40/67, 125 N, 125 H [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,262,579 11/1941 Foreman ..340/1l4 B 2,648,761 8/1953 Shamel ..340/1l4 B 3,506,959 4/1970 Nunn ..340/119 51 Sept. 12,1972

Nunn, Jr. ..340l1l4 B Godson ..248/l6 X Primary Examiner-John W. Caldwell Assistant Examiner-William M. Wannisky AttorneyJohn Holtrichter, Jr.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A traffic barricade-type structure constructed entirely of polymeric material such as high impact styrene and vinyl and including a pair of spaced A-shaped elongated strip supports with a pair of generally horizontal spaced elongated strips disposed on each side of the A-shaped supports. These supports are hinged at the apex thereof by resilient straps and the spacing between the legs of the supports is limited by transversely disposed resilient straps which may be temporarily uncoupled to allow the supports to be reversed to expose different safety indicia.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing, Figures PATENTED SEP 12 m2 Fig.2.

Fig.1.

Jock F. Huntington,

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY SAFETY DEVICE FOR DIRECTING TRAFFIC BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The background of the invention will be set forth in two parts.

l Field of the Invention The present invention generally pertains to the field of safety devices and more particularly to safety street barricades for directing and protecting vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

2. Description of the Prior Art The use of street or construction barricades to direct and protect traffic is well known.

Such barricades are usually constructed of wood and are painted for maximum visibility and sometimes include indicia relating to its function such as DETOUR, CONSTRUCTION, ONE LANE CLOSED, KEEP LEFT, KEEP RIGHT, and the like.

These safety devices have proved to have several rather severe disadvantages such as weight, storage, proneness to injury when accidentally struck by a vehicle, tendency to float and be attacked by dry rot and termites.

Some of these disadvantages have been solved by the use of metal in fabricating these devices. However, this scheme increased their weight and did very little to alleviate the problem of storage space needed. Also, the cost of fabrication increased greatly and the metal construction tended to cause severe injury to vehicles and persons coming into contact with them.

In an attempt to obviate some of these disadvantages, safety barricades have been proposed which are constructed of rubber with special surface configurations to help in holding the desired shape. This technique does generally provide a relatively lightweight device which is not easily injured by or the cause of injury to vehicles striking it. However, this type of construction is relatively costly, requires painting and still has the problem of space needed for storage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing factors and conditions characteristic of the prior art, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a new and improved safety device for directing traffic not subject to the disadvantages of the prior art.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a very reliable and simple to construct and use safety device for directing traffic.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a very lightweight and portable safety device for directing traffic in the form of a barricade of such design that as many as five such devices may be stacked into an area in which only one of the prior art barricades occupies.

It is also another object of the present invention to provide a safety device for directing traffic which will not float and is not subject to dry rot and termite damage and which need not be painted to originally provide or maintain its distinctive color.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a unique safety device for directing traffic in the form of a barricade which may be folded-over to expose different traffic indicia on opposite sides of the barricade members.

It is still a further object of the invention to provide a safety device for directing traffic which is adapted to support and maintain in position a signal light to warn of its presence at hours of dusk and darkness.

According to the present invention, a safety device for directing traffic and the like is constructed entirely of polymeric material and includes a pair of spaced A- shaped supports, each including first and second elongated strips hinged at their apex by a relatively thin resilient strap, each of the supports also including a transversely disposed relatively thin resilient strap attached to the elongated strips to limit the spacing between these strips. Also included are first and second pairs of generally horizontal spaced elongated strips attached respectively to the first and second elongated strips of the A-shaped supports. I

The transversely disposed straps may include detachable coupling means for allowing the supports to be folded-over to expose the opposite sides of the elongated strips, each side having different safety indicia displayed thereon.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by making reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which like reference characters refer to like elements in the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the front of a safety device for directing traffic in the form of a barricade constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the end of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the device of FIG. 1 after having been folded-over to expose a formerly hidden side; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the device of FIG. 1 taken along the line 3--3.

With reference now to the drawing and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a safety device for directing traffic and the like in the form of a barricade ll constructed entirely of polymeric material.

The barricade 1 1 includes a pair of spaced A.-shaped supports 13, each having first and second elongated strips 15, 17 hinged at their apex 19 by a relatively thin resilient strap 21, 23, each of the supports 13 also including a transversely disposed relatively thin resilient strap 25, 27 attached to the elongated strips l5, 17 generally adjacent the lower horizontal strips 31 to limit the spacing between these elongated strips. Also, first and second pairs of generally horizontal spaced elongated strips 29, 31 are attached respectively to the first and second elongated strips 15, 17 of the A-shaped supports 13.

The horizontal strips 29, 31 are spaced from the extremities of the elongated strips 15, 17 and may be at tached by means of conventional polymeric bonding agents or an adhesive suitable for use with such polymeric material. The straps 21, 23 and 25, 27 may be of a conventional vinyl material approximately onesixteenth inch in thickness and approximately 4 inches wide, for example. The elongated strips 15, 17 and 29, 31, on the other hand, may be fabricated from oneeighth inch high impact styrene stock and have dimensions of approximately 4 inches by 30 inches. Generally, the cross members of the device 11 may overhang approximately 4 inches at the top and sides and the strips l5, 17 may extend below the lower horizontal strips 31 by about 6 inches.

The supports 13 may be reversed as illustrated in FIG. 3 by providing the transverse straps 25, 27 with coupling means such as conventional snaps 33 whereby the snaps 33 are uncoupled to allow the strips 15, 17 to be folded-over by pivoting about the apex 19 and then recoupling the snaps 33 so that a formerly inside surface 35 of the strips is exposed to view and a formerly outside surface 37 is inside and hidden from view. This feature has the advantage of providing in a single barricade, the ability of exposing either of two different traffic safety indicia merely by unsnapping the transverse straps, folding over the strips making up the A shaped supports and re-snapping the transverse straps.

The color of the device 11 is preferably in the polymeric material itself and no painting, except for any safety indicia, is necessary. Thus, the color is distributed throughout the volume of the material and will not fade or wear and may be fluorescent for enhancing its visibility.

In this regard, the device 11 may also be provided with a lighting means such as the conventional stroboscopic flashing light device 39, as seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. The light 39 comprises a neon bulb enclosed lens 41 mounted on a battery and electronic circuitry containing box 43. The box 43 is supported by the uppermost horizontal strips 29 and is retained in this position by a threaded bolt 45 extending under the apex 19 between the first and second strips 15, 17. A washer 47 is positioned between the head 49 of the bolt 45 and a nut 51 is threadably attached to the end of the bolt after it passes through a suitable hole in the box 43.

From the foregoing, it should be evident that there has been described an extremely advantageous safety device for directing and protecting both vehicle and pedestrian traffic and which does not have the disadvantages of the prior art devices. For example, to store the barricades 11, the first and second elongated strips 15, 17 are merely pushed together, collapsing the transverse straps 27, and positioned one barricade against another. This allows many more barricades to be stored and transported in small spaces, such as trunks of emergency vehicles for example, than would be possible with conventional barricades.

Although a specific presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it should be clear that the invention is susceptible to numerous modifications and embodiments within the attainment of one skilled in the art. For example, the elongated strips of each side of the device 11 may be fabricated from a single sheet of polymeric material, thus eliminating the need for bonding the strips together.

What is claimed is:

l. A safety device constructed entirely of polymeric material for directing traffic and the like, corn rising:

a pair of spaced A-shaped supports, each 0 said supports including first and second elongated strips hinged at their apex by a relatively thin resilient strap; and

first and second pairs of horizontal spaced elongated strips attached respectively to said elongated strips, opposite sides of said elongated strips having different safety indicia displayed thereon, each of said supports also including a transversely disposed relatively thin resilient strap attached to said elongated strips to limit the spacing between said elongated strips, said straps including detachable coupling means for allowing said supports to be folded over to expose said opposite sides of said elongated strips and said different safety indicia thereon.

2. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein said polymeric material includes a desired color throughout its volume.

3. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein said elongated strips and said straps are appropriately bonded to each other by a polymeric bonding agent.

4. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein said elongated strips are constructed from one-eighth inch high impact styrene stock and have dimensions of approximately 4 inches by 30 inches, and wherein said straps are fabricated from one-sixteenth inch vinyl stock.

5. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein said transversely disposed straps are attached to said elongated strips of said A-shaped supports adjacent the lowermost ones of said horizontal elongated strips.

6. A safety device according to claim 5, further including barricade light means supported by said uppermost ones of said horizontal elongated strips adjacent one of said A-shaped supports for indicating the presence of said device during periods of dusk and darkness. 

1. A safety device constructed entirely of polymeric material for directing traffic and the like, comprising: a pair of spaced A-shaped supports, each of said supports including first and second elongated strips hinged at their apex by a relatively thin resilient strap; and first and second pairs of horizontal spaced elongated strips attached respectively to said elongated strips, opposite sides of said elongated strips having different safety indicia displayed thereon, each of said supports also including a transversely disposed relatively thin resilient strap attached to said elongated strips to limit the spacing between said elongated strips, said straps including detachable coupling means for allowing said supports to be folded over to expose said opposite sides of said elongated strips and said different safety indicia thereon.
 2. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein said polymeric material includes a desired color throughout its volume.
 3. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein said elongated strips and said straps are appropriately bonded to each other by a polymeric bonding agent.
 4. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein said elongated strips are constructed from one-eighth inch high impact styrene stock and have dimensions of approximately 4 incheS by 30 inches, and wherein said straps are fabricated from one-sixteenth inch vinyl stock.
 5. A safety device according to claim 1, wherein said transversely disposed straps are attached to said elongated strips of said A-shaped supports adjacent the lowermost ones of said horizontal elongated strips.
 6. A safety device according to claim 5, further including barricade light means supported by said uppermost ones of said horizontal elongated strips adjacent one of said A-shaped supports for indicating the presence of said device during periods of dusk and darkness. 